Gajeel Redfox: The Big Softy
by gezusgeek
Summary: All he wanted to do was confront her with the problem, however, he didn't think it would end that badly...How can he fix things? (Setting is after Grand Magic Games.) BONUS CHAPTER UP! Slight Gruvia
1. Disaster

_**GAH. Here I go again...not writing the stories that I need to be writing…. I'm way too stuck on Gajeel and Juvia. xD I gotta stop. PFFFFF~!**_

_**XD i own nada, zip, nothing… **_

Gajeel was going to do it.

He was going up to her and saying it straight out. That's right, she was sitting right across the room. Just move your feet, walk over, and blurt it out. However, the Dragon Slayer's legs refused to move, as if his body knew better than to do so. So instead, he tapped his toes on the ground anxiously while grinding his teeth together in irritation.

Pantherlily glanced up at his comrade's face as realization kicked in. Ah, so he decided to do it today...The feline's face scrunched slightly in worry, looking from Gajeel to the women across the room. He and Gajeel had already talked about the problem at hand, both coming to the conclusion that talking to her about it was best. But Lily could see that his friend was having second thoughts, and he knew why. With this particular problem, there was only a few ways it could end. Most ending badly. Lily glanced back up at Gajeel to see that he was sweating. If he doesn't go soon, he'll lose his nerve. That wouldn't be good.

He placed a paw on his clenched fist. "If you're going to do it, do it now." Gajeel fixed his gaze down at his cat, his frown deepening. "I-I don't think I can do this-gah!" The paw that was on his hand slammed into his jaw.

Lily was growing annoyed. He had _finally _convinced the Big Dope to talk to her and now he was chickening out? Not on his watch. He pointed towards her. "_Go. Now._" At this point, he didn't care if Gajeel was scared of the consequences. This needed to be said.

Gajeel had grunted when Lily had hit him, but he knew he deserved it and said nothing as his cat pointed towards the other end of the room. Right now? He glanced towards where he was pointing and gulped. Gajeel wasn't scared, alright? He just knew how this was going to end, and wasn't sure if he was really prepared for that yet.

However, after having a glaring contest with his partner for a few minutes, he reluctantly stood. He hesitated before starting to walk. Thankfully, only the usual crowd was there today, he wouldn't have to deal with the odd looks of the newbs that had joined after winning the Grand Magic Games.

Oh how the man wished he could go back in time and do that blasted tournament again rather than be walking up to his next biggest battle...But fate was a bloody cruel thing.

He stopped in front of her. She was sitting down, waiting as she usually did this time of day. She looked up at him and blinked. There was a dark shadow over his face as he took a deep breathe. She didn't seem to mind much though as she tilted her head to the side in question.

"Juvia." He began before having to swallow the lump in his throat. "I gotta talk to you." Though the water mage was a bit confused by his sudden seriousness, she nodded, turning in her seat so she was facing him correctly.

Gajeel stayed standing, feeling that if he sat down, he would lose his nerve again and try and change the topic. He was glad that he wasn't gaining any attention from his guildmates, who didn't think anything of it since everyone knew how close the two were, even if they never really proclaimed it. All except Pantherlily, who was watching Gajeel with careful judgment.

Gajeel scratched the back of his head, somehow growing nauseous. He groaned inwardly. Just because his emotions were on a roller coaster, didn't mean he should feel like he was getting motion sickness. He looked down at her expectant gaze, locking his serious expression with her curious one. "Look...It's about Fullbuster…"

She blinked. "Gray-sama?" He nodded, deciding to avoid her worried gaze. "What about Gray-sama? Is he alright?" He waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, he's fine."

She frowned. "Then what?" Her tone had changed slightly and he gulped. She had probably figured out where this conversation was going. Great. "Alright, so less about him and more about you."

When she didn't say or do anything, he continued, hoping it was a good sign. "I think...you should give up on 'im." Her frown saddened as her head fell slightly, making her bangs fall over her eyes. When she finally spoke, she sounded deeply hurt. He almost flinched. "...Why?"

He was going to answer but she continued. Her voice still sounded hurt, but also a bit confused. "Why would you say that to Juvia? You know how she feels more than anyone, because you know who she was before anyone. Yet you tell her to give up?" When she took a breathe, he decided to step in.

"Juvia, I-I just don't think he's good enough-" He stopped dead sentence when she stood from her seat, almost knocking it over. He could still see the sadness in her eyes as she glared up at him, her face full of anger and hurt. That's when it started raining outside.

"Don't you **dare** say that he isn't good enough for Juvia! Don't even go there Gajeel! Gray-sama was the one that took the rain away. He was the one to give Juvia a home…" Though at first she was yelling, her voice had lowered into that same sad tone as before, lowering her head again.

At Juvia's rare yelling, all the guild members in the hall had stopped what they were doing to stare at the two in complete and utter silence. Not really because they wanted to eavesdrop, but more along the line that they were all to shocked to move. _Juvia_ was _yelling_ at _Gajeel_. And as the two began to argue, Team Natsu had just walked in from being on a mission, all wet from the sudden rain, but also quickly become silent as they watched the scene before them unfold.

But she wasn't the only one to become angry. Gajeel squeezed his fists at his sides. "Don't you get it Rain Women!? I just want you to be happy!" She shot her head up, glaring at him like before, but this time with a scowl of silent disbelief on her face. He was inwardly regretting ever starting this conversation…

Lucy hid behind Natsu, who was staring at the two with wide eyes. Erza gave a look to Mira, who shook her head, silently telling her to leave it be for now. Gray stared at Juvia, his bag that was in his grasp almost slipping out of his hand from shock. He had _never_ seen Juvia with_ that _face before. She was even so distracted by her argument that she hadn't even noticed that he was in the same room. Everyone else just stared at them silently, afraid that if they moved or made a noise that it would make the matter worse.

"You want Juvia to be happy, you say..? What do you know about Juvia's happiness Gajeel?" He blinked down at her calm, but angry exterior. "W-Well I…" That's when he realized it. Whenever he thought about Juvia when she was happy, the ice mage was always beside her. She was waiting patiently for his answer as he stood there silently for a moment. "Well, Fairy Tail makes you happy…"

She nodded. "That's right. But you're forgetting how Juvia came to know Fairy Tail in the first place Gajeel!" He winced at her tone of voice, but also at her words. It was true after all. She had come to know Fairy Tail after meeting the Stripper. He decided to go with a counter attack, his anger at her truth seeming to cloud his judgement. His mouth really didn't have a filter.

"So what then?! You're just gonna go chasing after Gray like a freaking lost puppy until he accepts you? Are you stupid!? He's just gonna leave you behind like Bora did!" He didn't realize his mistake until thunder struck and a flash from the window showed him Juvia's current expression. Her bottom lip quivered and tears ran down her face as her shoulders started to shake, his words had cut through her and broken whatever confidence she had had left.

He reached out his hand, terror and regret showing on his face. "Juvia, I didn't-!" But three small words had stopped his own. Three words he would have never thought she would say, especially to him. Her voice sounded...broken as she whispered with a shake in it from her crying. It was so quiet that only the dragon slayers in the room had heard.

"I hate you…"

Gajeel cringed, becoming frozen stiff even as she ran off, unable to keep loud wails from escaping her mouth before disappearing in the rain. Not even Gray calling out after her made her stop.

The guild stayed silent after that, only braking when Gajeel fell on his hands and knees, cursing loudly before slamming his fist into the ground. Pantherlily, who up until now was refusing to either slam his head into the wall over and over again, or kick Gajeel in the head, had finally snapped.

"YOU FOOL!" He screamed while kicking the Iron Dragon Slayer as hard as he could in the back of the neck. After landing in front of his face that was now smashed into the floor, he continued, still yelling. "If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times Gajeel! Think. Before. You Speak! Now look at what you've done!" Lily had pointed towards the still open guild door where the rain grew heavy and a flash of lightning struck, leaving loud thunder in it's wake.

Gajeel lifted his head off the floor, but didn't look up at his cat as he spoke, still on his hands and knees. "I know…" His voice was completely defeated and full of dread. Lily's eye twitched, so angry that he wasn't even scared of the thunder. And that said quite a lot.

"And what are you going to do about it?" Gajeel didn't move, and it took him a minute to answer, his tone changing into one of shocked realization. "I...I don't know…" Somehow, he had found the strength to stand, though he was slouching with his head down. "I just don't know."

Lily sighed, his anger seeming to slip away at seeing his friend this way. He had never seen Gajeel so depressed before. So he stood there and watched as the Iron Dragon Slayer slowly dragged his feet out the door and into the rain, anyone in his wake moved aside silently. Levy had tried to call out to him, but he hadn't seemed to have heard her.

The guild stayed silent, staring off after the man and his dark cloud of helplessness. Lucy blinked. "What just happened..?" Natsu, one of the four who had heard the water mage's last words, shuddered at the mere thought. He might be dense, but it was very clear to even him on what had just taken place in their guild. "Luce, somethin' very, very bad…"

The only sound that was heard after that was the hard rain that fell outside. There was only one question going through their heads. What were they going to do now? One of their Nakama was crying and the other was depressed from utter defeat…

Pantherlily looked worriedly at everyone. They were all pretty quiet...He may have expected something like this to happen, even if not this bad, but the guild had most certainly not. He sighed again. They were all in complete shock. Of course, he was a bit as well. He didn't think things would end up going this far. This _was_ a bad situation.

"What's happened? I just saw Gajeel. He looked like one of you told him something terrible and..." The Master stopped when he looked around and felt the heavy atmosphere. He had only been gone since that morning to go sit in a boring council meeting and this is what he comes home to. "What's going on?" Lily was about to open his mouth but then at the sight of their Master, the guild members surrounded him with worried and panicked looks, all yelling at the same time.

Makarov blinked at the commotion, only being able to make out the words "Gajeel", "Juvia", and "argument". Lily ran a paw down his face. This was getting them nowhere. "Quiet!"

At the small warrior's loud voice, silence fell, and a line was made so that Pantherlily could get to the Master, who looked down at him expectantly. "Gajeel was confronting Juvia about an issue and well.., it went as south as it could get…"

The shorter old man raised a brow. "An issue?" Lily nodded before pointing his thumb back towards Gray, who was still staring out the door with a shocked expression. Now seeming to understand, Makarov closed his eyes and took in a deep thoughtful breathe.

It was almost like time had stopped. No one moved, or said a word until the Master had said his next statement. "Lily, Mira, Freed, Levy, and all of Team Natsu, come with me into my office." Nodding, they all complied, walking with him into the back room.

Once Freed had closed the door behind him, Makarov's eyes locked with Pantherlily's. The Exceed, seeming to understand his silent request, started from the beginning. "Gajeel has been worried about Juvia lately. The reason being...Well to put it simply, it was because of Gray's unwillingness to accept his own feelings and push her away." Gray, on the other end of the room flinched slightly at that comment, though everyone stayed silent as he continued, Nutsu heard Erza sigh deeply next to him.

Lily closed his eyes as he remembered the worried look of the Big Oaf. "Since the end of the Grand Magic Games, we noticed how hard she was trying and.., well, how hurt she was becoming. We both thought that it was time to at least talk to her about it. So today, Gajeel tried to do just that. However, it didn't go as planned…" He sighed, putting a paw on his small neck. "As expected, she got angry, and so did he. That's when he ran his mouth off like an idiot, saying something he _really_ shouldn't have."

Makarov raised a brow. "What did he say?" He had expected it to end up being something about Gray again, but no, that wasn't it at all. "The Fool told her that Gray would end up leaving her just like Bora did…" He blinked in surprise. "Bora?"

Lucy shared the look. "Wait, like, fake Salamander Bora? That one? Juvia knows him?"

Lily nodded, turning to look at her. "She didn't just know him, Bora was her first Boyfriend. Or rather, the one she had put her trust in before joining Phantom Lord. He was the reason she became the person she was before meeting Fairy Tail." The non-cat looked down sadly. "He had just dumped her, tossing her aside after telling her how Gloomy and Boring she was. After that, she had just stopped letting people in…"

The room went silent and the air became heavy again. The only sound being the gulp coming from Gray's direction. So Lily continued, his eyes again closed in thought. "At any rate, after he blurted that out, Juvia broke down completely...Gajeel had tried to apologize, but she said something that made him stop…" The room went silent again until a whisper broke it.

"I hate you.." All heads turned to a sad Natsu. "That's...That's what she said...to Gajeel." Even his happy-go-lucky and carefree nature was downcast by this event. Family meant a lot to Natsu, and seeing two of his Nakama like this had to be eating at him.

After a moment, Erza took a small step forward. "What...should we do Master?" Said man leaned back in his chair in what seemed like deep thought. "There's only one thing we can do…"

They all leaned in slightly, eager to learn what to do about the problem at hand. The old man suddenly stood in his seat, pointing his hand up in the air with a smirk on his face. "Why, we'll trick them of course!"

The room, once again, went silent, but this time in confusion. Freed was the one to step forward this time. "Um, Master? Are you sure that is a wise decision..?" Makarov smirked. "Why did you think I called you all in here? You all have a part to play…" They all blinked as he decided to announce roles, pointing to each person as he declared their place.

"Mira, go and rent an island!" Though confused, she ran out the door to do just that.

"Levy and Freed, go make a request having to do with that island, I'll also need you a bit later, so when you're done, come and find me." Nodding with silent realization, they were also off.

He turned his head towards the rest of the group. "Those left here, you will be bystanders and supervisors." Erza blinked. "For what?"

He grinned. "After the island is in place and the plan is set in motion,you will be there to bystand and supervise. You'll understand better once the plan has started. For now, go and get ready for a long trip." Though they didn't quite understand, they nodded and were walking out the door…

"Pantherlily and Gray, please stay a little longer." The two complied and the Master turned to Lily first. "When I tell you too, I'll need you to get Gajeel and Juvia for me. At that time, I'll explain more of what I want you to say, as of right now…" His gaze fell on Gray, who was silently terrified for his life, his brain still trying to process everything that was going on. "I need to talk with Gray, so I'll get back to you later." Lily glanced over at Gray only once before nodding as he left, leaving the two alone.

"Gray…" The ice mage's fingers started to twitch. He had this terrible pain in his gut, somehow feeling that this whole thing was his fault, but most of him was really hoping otherwise. However, his Master could see right through him as he slammed his hands on his desk. "Don't you even think for a second that this isn't at least partially your fault!" Gray flinched, really not knowing what he was feeling right now as the old man continued with a long, disappointed sigh.

"You...are staying here." Gray blinked up at him, suddenly growing irritated. "What!?"

"You heard me!" Gray slammed his mouth shut at his raised voice. "You are going to stay here and think about how you are going to face Gajeel _and_ Juvia. I've held my tongue for this long because I didn't want to have to make you choose between your feelings and your friends. However, your lack of decision has caused two of my children to _brake_. So, you are going to have to stay here and think about your answer to Juvia's affections and decide whether you are going to accept them or not. I really didn't want it to come to this, but unfortunately, the situation has become dire."

His face and voice softened at Gray's almost frightened appearance. "I know it's hard and a bit frightening Gray, but you need to choose…" He took a deep breathe as he looked down. "You're dismissed." Gary's bangs covered his eyes as he nodded and left, quietly shutting the door behind him instead of slamming it like Makarov thought he would. He leaned on his desk and rubbed his temples.

He was getting too old for this.


	2. Mission

_**Hue Hue Hue...I'm so evil~ (/*v*/) Here comes chapter two! Sorry if the first chappy was sorta mostly drama, I'm hoping to make this one more funny~ xD Thanks to those who have liked, faved, followed, given me reviews or just for checking it out! 3 ;v; I love you all! *Gives kiwis* I don't own anything~ TvT**_

"_I hate you…_"

The words played over and over again in Gajeel's mind, haunting him. It had been two days. Two. Whole. Days. And he has yet to find a way to fix this mess. He wanted nothing more than to pang all of his guilt and fault onto Gray for what happened, but knew better than to do so. It was his fault. _He_ had brought it up, and _he_ had ran his mouth off without thinking first. Again.

Gajeel was use to people hating him, and he had never really cared, but this was different. She was different. To him anyway. She was probably the first one to ever accept him for who he was before meeting Fairy Tail. She was his best friend.

And now she hates him.

He groaned for what was most likely the billionth time before slamming his head onto his bed's headboard. He was sitting on his bed and hasn't moved from it since the day before, trying to come up with some sort of plan.

Only to come up with nothin.

He again slammed his head back, hearing another crack, but not caring. Grinding his teeth in frustration, he closed his eyes shut and pulled at his long hair by the roots. After having a manly hissy-fit, he leaned back, letting his limp arms fall to his sides motionlessly before heaving a big sigh.

He glanced out the window and frowned. Though the storm had passed and the rain had stopped the night before, dark clouds have covered the city, threatening to unleash their water on the people below depending on Juvia's mood.

Since they were still here, she was still upset…

It made him feel a little better to know that it wasn't storming, or even raining anymore. That at least told him that she wasn't terribly upset anymore, but the clouds are still there, and that worried him deeply. More than anything else, he hoped that she was alright…

**Bam!** Ah, there was the sudden kick to the head he had been missing out on for the past two days. Gajeel rubbed his cheek before staring down at his cat and blinking. "Lily?"

"If you're so worried, then do something about it!" Gajeel moved his position by crossing his legs while putting his hands in his lap, letting his head fall. Like a child accepting his punishment. "I've been thinkin and thinkin, but every sanario I come up with ends in…" He gulped, remembering the three words the water mage had said to him last.

Lily sighed, his voice heavy with disbelief. "I've left you alone for two days, and when I get back, I come home to a pouting child and broken furniture. Really, you need to stop banging your head on the headboard when you're upset…" Gajeel looked up with a pout.

"I'm not a child!" Pantherlily merely raised an amused brow. "Yet you continue to pout."

When met with silence, Lily momentarily smirked at Gajeel's childlike actions before crossing his arms seriously, the smirk whipped off his face. "Well, you can stop pouting now, because now there is a plan for you to follow."

Gajeel's interest was instantly piqued. "A plan?" Lily nodded. "That's right. The guild has received a special request that wants you and Juvia specifically." The Iron Dragon Slayer blinked, growing pailer by the minute. "A...A mission? Just the two of us?"

His cat rolled his eyes, sarcasm heavy as he spoke. "No, you, Juvia and Natsu..Yes just the two of you!" Gajeel continued to pout, crossing his arms. "Ya don't have ta be so mean about it…"

Lily's eye twitched. Gajeel has always had a childish side to him, but somehow without the water mage in his life, that part of him has been exploited greatly. Again refusing to bang his head in the wall, Lily prayed that the Master's plan would work. Because if it didn't, Pantherlily knew that the headboard wasn't going to be the only thing in this room to be beaten to death.

The Exceed sighed with a hint of frustration. "At any rate, I'll go and convince Juvia to go on this mission. You will go and speak to the Master. He wants to talk with you." Gajeel gulped. "R-Right..I'll go and see 'im."

After nodding in approval, Lily started to walk towards the window. When he reached it, he spread his wings before glancing back at his childlike partner. "Oh, and Gajeel?"

The man, who had just stood to leave, looked up at his cat with silent curiosity. Lily gave the same sweetly evil smile as the barmaid. "Don't go and say anything stupid." And with that, he flew out the window, leaving a shocked and nervous Gajeel behind.

Evil...His cat was evil.

So after standing there for a few more moments, Gajeel gathered what little courage he had left and headed out of his home towards the guild, preparing himself on the way there.

Now he was standing in front of the Master's office, trying to gather his thoughts and somehow calm his nerves. Taking in a breath, he opened the door to see Makarov's chair turned. After shutting the door behind him, the Master turned his chair around to reveal his serious expression. "Gajeel.., I'm glad you could make it." The other man only nodded in response, walking up to the desk as he continued.

"I hope these past few days have helped you clear your head." Gajeel nodded slowly, somehow finding his calm demeanor very frightening. Wasn't he going to yell and scream about how wrong he had been? You know, in that father like way he has.

Makarov sighed at the boy's tense stance. "Don't worry Gajeel, I'm not going to yell at you." The Dragon Slayer blinked, his muscles relaxing. "You aren't..?"

"Well I could, since this whole predicament was started by you." He noticed Gajeel wince at the comment as he finished with a small smile. "However, I think that you've been punished enough." The young man before him glanced to the side, understanding what he meant before glancing back at his Master. "So...Thank she'll come..?"

The old man glanced up at him. "Yes, but I have no idea how she'll handle seeing you. She could snap after seeing you, or she might break down again, it all depends on how she has decided to handle the situation. She should be here soon, I'm hoping you've done the same." Gajeel avoided his gaze. "Well...I know what not ta do…"

Makarov rolled his eyes, seeing that coming from a mile away. Not many would have guessed, but Pantherlily wasn't the only one who could read the man's thoughts. "Well, that's a good start. My only word of advice is to say what you want to say, but maybe this time you could try and be a bit more gentle about it." Gajeel looked up to meet his kind gaze and had to look away, nodding.

That was when the door opened. The two looked and saw that Juvia Lockser had walked in. Well, half way in. She had stopped mid-step when she saw Gajeel to stare at him for a moment before refocusing on the Master. Her face was stolic and unreadable, like in her phantom days. Gajeel also noticed that she was paler than before and he could barely see the rings under her eyes. He swallowed, but didn't look away from her as she walked straight past him to stand in front of the Master.

"I was told you had an urgent mission for Juvia." He nodded slowly, worried by the lack of life in her tone. "That's right, you and Gajeel will go here." He handed her the request paper and watched her reaction carefully. She merely stared down at the piece of paper for a moment. "Very well."

This was not good. Makarov has never seen the girl like this before, but judging by the look on Gajeel's face, this side of her wasn't unknown. She had explained to him how she was in Phantom Lord when she had talked to him about joining the guild. But seeing her this way in person...Now he truly understood why Gajeel was so worried about her. She had one of the strongest will's he has ever seen, and her pride as a Fairy Tail wizard goes even beyond that, however, her feelings are fragile, and now that her strong will has been broken, it was going to take a lot to bring her back. He sighed. All he could do now was put his faith in Gajeel and then Gray.

Juvia turned her unrevealing, yet cold gaze to Gajeel. "We should leave now. Juvia would like to get this done as fast as she can." That stolic look, that dull, but cruel voice, and though her outfit didn't change, her hair had returned to being straight with curled ends, not wavy and loose like a few days ago. Gajeel felt like he had went back in time. And he didn't like it. He had to do something, but he had to wait for the right time. So with that plan in mind, he nodded. "Right…"

As the door shut behind them, Makarov took a deep breath. "I sure hope this plan works…"

"So do I." After blinking, the Master whipped his head around to see Mavis sitting on the edge of his desk, dangling her legs. "F-First? Have you been watching the whole time?"

She tilted her head back to look at him, nodding. "Yes, and I'm a bit worried." He glanced up at her. "Oh?" She nodded.

"I may be able to reveal the outcome of battles, but I can't predict people's feelings." The older, yet younger, Master looked down in thought. "I see. Then all we can do is watch and hope for the best." She sighed and pouted. "Yeah, I know…"

Back in the guild's hall, Gajeel was silently following Juvia towards the doors. Not once had she looked back at him, or even spoke to him after leaving the presence of the their Master. A part of him was relieved that she had accepted going with him on this mission, but on the other hand, he could sense that she was being reluctant about it as well. She was still clearly upset with him.

"Juvia!" Gajeel watched the water mage stop in mid-step before looking back and seeing Gray not far behind them. He swallowed before continuing. "Juvia, w-when you get back.., I'd like to talk.., with you." Gajeel noted how nervous and awkward he was. So this is what an ice mage losing his cool looked like.

He switched his gaze to Juvia, who stood there a moment before turning around slowly with the same stoic face as before. Then after what seemed like locking eyes with Gray, her frown lifted slightly, but _only_ slightly. "Alright." And with that she turned on her heel to walk out the doors. Gajeel followed, only glancing back once at the ice mage, who was running a hand through his hair, before leaving the guild hall altogether.

He didn't speak a word on the train, which they were taking to the nearest port, and neither did she. His nerves were so worked up that he couldn't even tell if he was nauseous because of the train, or because of the situation. Either way, he was sick to his stomach. Usually the only dreaded thought running in his head over and over again would be, _I have ta get on a boat…_ but that was now replaced with, _I have ta talk to her…_ Frankly, he would rather get on the boat and deal with his motion sickness than face her right now.

He glanced over at her for what seemed like the millionth time. She didn't seem to notice though, or she was ignoring him again, as she merely stared out the window. What could she be thinking about? Was she mad? Disappointed even? What could he say to make things go back to the way they were?

He glared up at the ceiling, inwardly cursing at himself. What was wrong with him? All he needed to do was_ talk_ to her. How hard could that be? His gaze fell back on to her unrevealing face.

"So…" He was about to continue, but she had cut him off, not even looking at him as she did so. "Juvia is trying to look out the window Gajeel-_san, _so please don't disturb her."

His jaw dropped. He was being outranked by the window?! Was she_ that _upset with him? Well, the fact that she used his name with the '-san' at the end could have told him that too. She always called him 'Gajeel-kun', even when they first met. Maybe he was in for it more than he first thought. How deep was this hole that he's dug himself in? Shouldn't he feel like he's climbing by now instead of digging deeper into hopelessness?

After taking effort in closing his mouth, he bit his lip and started pulling at the roots of his hair. But she did nothing. Before she would have flinched and asked a million annoyingly nice questions to figure out what was wrong with him. She's always been persistent.

Right now she's being persistent…

She is persistently acting like he either didn't exist or matter.

After again pulling at his hair, the train stopped, thus proving that he wasn't actually nauseous because of the train...Just great. She stood and didn't even look at him as they got off. Now Gajeel was an awkward guy, he would admit that, but this atmosphere between them was becoming unbareble.

He was about to try and start a conversation again, but she beat him to it, surprisingly. "There's the boat we need to take." He was sort of glad she said 'we', since she was looking at the request while saying it. I glared at the boat, trying to act normal, as a thought came to me. "So what kinda mission are we going on anyways? I never got ta look at the request…"

But instead of responding with words, like he had hoped, she merely handed him the request before walking over to talk to the boat's manager. After watching her for a moment in honest disappointment, he looked down at the paper. The ocean water around the island has started to strongly taste like metal? That is kind of weird. Shouldn't it taste like salt? No wonder the two of them were especially picked for this mission.

He looked up and saw that Juvia was climbing into the boat, only giving him a quick glance before starting the engine. He blinked, momentarily wondering when she learned to drive a boat before realizing she was really planning to leave him behind if he didn't get in that second.

He huffed as he got in, slamming down in his seat as he yelled at her. "What's the big idea?! You almost left me behind!" Again, instead of using words, she zoomed out onto the water towards the island, making Gajeel hang on for dear life and lose his breakfast at the same time. She clearly did so on purpose.

Evil...First his cat, and now his best friend. He knew that she was stubborn, but for her to be this mad at him? He really didn't know what to do...One of the points he liked about her was that she was so forgiving of people. Like that Merely girl for instance, and she threatened to_ kill _Gray! Of course, she was an enemy at the time.. He was her friend, and he still said what he said…

Of course she was upset with him.

By the times these thoughts went in and out during his motion sickness, the boat slowly came to a stop, running up against the island's shore. Gajeel leaned over the edge for a few long moments making inhuman sounds before even attempting to try and stand. He barely noticed that she waited her him to stand before getting out of the boat, her feet landing in the water smoothly.

The Iron Dragon Slayer, however, almost fell on his face trying to get out, sickness still causing him to lag. Though after he hit land, he recovered pretty quickly, shaking his head before looking around. The island was smaller than he expected, but was still a nice size for a small village. Speaking of small village...He glanced down at the paper still in his hand. It said their client was in one, on the other end of the island.

She looked at him then, but only in question, probably wondering where to go from here. He glanced forward, suddenly not able to look at her in the eye. "We...Ah, gotta go to the other side of the island…To meet the client..and stuff." He swallows. Wow. She finally looks at you, and you look away, saying _that_. Poetic.

She only nodded and started walking onto the sandy beach. Gajeel following close behind until a very sound was heard as they landed walked onto the beach. Gajeel quickly turned around, hoping that he didn't hear what he thought he just heard.

However, to the Dragon Slayer's dismay, the sight before him was definitely what he thought it was. his mouth only dropped to the sand as the all too familiar purple lettering came into view, floating in the air. Juvia was also staring up at the words as they formed, and seeing the Gajeel wasn't in any condition to read them, she did so out loud.

"Gajeel Redfox and Juvia Lockser, are hereby not allowed to step off of this island until you have made amends. -The Master."

A thick silence fell over the two as they silently reread the words above them. Juvia glared over at Gajeel, who flinched at the sight. "_You_ planned this, didn't you?" He started to sweat, shaking his head. "I swear I had nothin ta do with this!"

She seemed to believed him as she looked back at the words with an unreadable expression. Silence fell again as he looked down at the request in his hand, squinting his eyes at it with a long frown. "Now that I get a good look at this...It looks like the bookworm's work…"

She looked over his shoulder curiously, examining the work. "It does look like Levy-chan…" He sighed. At least she had calmed down a bit. But as the silence returned, it also brought back the awkwardness.

He finally sat down in the sand. There was no point in doing a made up mission. He wasn't stupid. The guild was obviously worried about them and wanted them to make up. But did they really have to go this far to help him? Oh who was he kidding, this was_ Fairy Tail _he was thinking about! They go overboard on _everything_!

Juvia must have felt strange for standing, since she sat down next to him, only about a foot away, he noted before glancing at her. She had pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, placing her chin on them and looking ahead with unfocused eyes.

He knew that this was his chance but he hadn't the slightest idea on what to say. Should he try just normal conversation first? Or go with the direct approach?

"_Say what you want to say, but this time try and be a little more gentle about it._"

The Master's words rang in his head over and over again before he realized what he had to say. Something the man didn't say often, and even those that knew him personally thought the words never came from his proud mouth.

"I'm sorry…"

It was barely mumbled, but Juvia's head shot up to look at him after he spoke. His voice was oddly soft and honest. She wondered for a second if she had misheard, but after seeing the guilty look on his face, she continued to listen.

"I'm not good with words, you can just ask the shrimp, but Master told me ta say what was on my mind so here goes nothin. I didn't mean ta make ya so upset, I was just worried that the stripper would end up hurtin ya.., but, I ended up doin that instead. Heh, some best friend I am…"

As he spoke she was outwardly becoming more emotional. In truth, the only reason she was acting so cold was because she didn't want him to see how emotionally unstable she was feeling. She thought that if she put on a tough exterior, she wouldn't look so pathetic. She wasn't really mad at what he had said, but rather was trying to figure out if his words were true or not. But the mere thought of them possibly being true made her extremely sad. That's why she had reacted the way she did. Her mind had shut down. She hated the possibility that his words were true, not Gajeel himself. But she said what she said anyways, without making it clear.

Now he was apologizing.

_She_ should be the one to apologize, but he continued.

"So, even if I, ah, don't get why ya do what ya do when it comes to the stripper, I shouldn't have said what I did, and I get it if you hate my guts-" But he was cut off by Juvia, who had tackled him in a hug around the shoulders, almost knocking him over, and crying as she spoke.

"She doesn't! Juvia doesn't! She was j-just upset at the truth, not Gajeel-kun!" He blinked, utterly confused by that statement. Then she started to sob and Gajeel didn't know what to do as she went on. "J-Juvia was sad that Gajeel-kun could be r-right and took it out on him, she's sorry! It's her fault! D-Don't be sorry, it was Juvia's fault!" She started to cry harder and he could only sit there awkwardly patting her head, leaning on his other hand to keep them both from falling. But you know, he couldn't help but grin in relief.

"Come on, quit yer cryin."

"B-But I can't!" He sighed, though amused, then looked up to notice the purple words slowly fade away. He smirked at where they once were. He would have to thank the master later for this. Then his smirk turned into a deep, annoyed frown.

He hated eavesdroppers. He glanced down at the hysterical water women and decided he would give them a piece of his mind later.

**A little ways away, behind some bushes**

Lucy and Happy were hugging while crying. Erza's lip was quivering as she watched the scene with watery eyes. And Natsu couldn't stop grinning, extremely happy to see his Nakama getting along again. He just hoped that Ice Brain did his part when they got back.

When Juvia had finally calmed down, Gajeel couldn't seem to take much more of the fools crying behind them as he glared in their direction. "Will you come out already!? You're freaking annoying!" Juvia blinked as she watched Natsu proudly emerge from the bushes, the others following behind him.

She blinked in confusion. "W-What are you doing here..?"

Natsu laughed. "We're by-visors and super-standing!" Gajeel raised a brow, staring at him blankly. "Huh..?"

Lucy, who had become sober again, facepalmed. "Natsu...You mean 'Bystanders' and 'Supervisors'..." He only nodded, as if he was still correct. "That's what I said Luce!"

"Yeah.., Whatever…" She was so use to this by now that she just didn't care anymore.

"She likeeees him~"

"Cram it cat!"

As the three went at it, Erza went over to Juvia and helped her stand up, Gajeel had already done so to go yell at Natsu. Juvia had accepted her extended hand and both smiled to one another.

Not long after that, they all made their way back to the guild hall. The boat ride was spent with Erza driving and Lucy and Juvia failing to confront the Dragon Slayers, who had learned the hard way that Erza should not be legally allowed to drive a boat…This however, made them reach land rather quickly, and as soon as they did, one would have thought that Tetanya was dragging two dead bodies over her shoulders rather than her friends. They didn't recover until the group had reached the guild hall.

"Wow, yer so weak that ya let Erza carry ya around on her shoulder Iron Breath?"

"She carried you two ya know Flame Brain…" He was much too tired to full out argue with him right now. Mentally and physically... After entering, the guild members flooded the group with worry. It took a little while, but the small group was able to assure their Nakama that everything was all good now.

Erza found Gajeel and told him to go meet the Master. He nodded and was heading that way when he saw, from the corner of his eye, the stripper walk up to Juvia nervously starting to talk with her. Juvia glanced over at him and he gave her a small smile of encouragement with a nod before walking towards the Master's office. He trusted that Juvia could handle the situation on her own. He knew now that she could.

He reached out and opened the door before walking inside. As before, the chair was turned. He walked up to the his desk as he turned around with a big grin on his wrinkled face. "Well, I'm glad you're back. It didn't take as long as I thought it would." Gajeel's eye twitched.

"So I get way you sent us to that stupid island, but did ya have ta send the twerps there to spy on us?" The older man laughed at his defeated tone. Gajeel was very worn out and this fact seemed to amuse Makarov.

"Oh yes my boy! If I didn't send them, they wouldn't have been able to tell me everything that happened in detail!" He started to laugh again and Gajeel just sighed, rubbing his neck. "Ya know, I don't really care anymore…"

The Master raised a knowing brow. "We both knew that isn't true Gajeel." He only glanced away, a bit embarrassed as he continued. "At any rate, I just wanted to tell you that I'm proud of you."

The Iron Dragon Slayer shot his shocked gaze up to the older smiling man, staring for a good minute before slowly nodding. The Master nodded. "That was all, you might want to go talk to Pantherlily, he's very worried." Gajeel nodded again before turning to leave. He opened the door, but stopped, not looking back as he spoke.

"Thank you." Then he was gone. This only made the Master sniff. His children were growing up so fast!

"There's no need to cry…" Makarov quickly turned his watery gaze to the first Master, who was this time, standing next to his chair. "Y-You're crying too First…" She pouted, her lip quivering. "N-Nah-uh!"

Gajeel found Lily sitting on the bar drinking kiwi juice. He walked up and sat in the chair next to him. "GeeHee."

The familiar laugh caught his attention as he looked over at him with a small smile. "Welcome back." Gajeel smirked. "Thanks." He finished his juice and set the cup down on the bar counter.

"I'm surprised you're back this early. I didn't expect to see you until next week." Gajeel's head fell at the honesty of his cat. "It's good ta know you have good faith in me…" Lily laughed.

"Of course I do." Gajeel grunted in annoyance as he continued. "I'm your cat after all."

The Iron Dragon Slayer rarely got emotional, but most of those rare times were because of Lily. This was one of those times. Gajeel looked up at his cat with tears running down his face, tackling him in a hug, much like after they returned to Earthland. Lily only sighed.

Gajeel was just a big softy...


	3. Bonus Chapter!

**Finally got the motivation to write this! *7*)9 **

**A lot of the reviewers said they wanted a bonus chapter, so here goes! Hope you enjoy! **

**-BEWARE OF GRUVIA- Okay, Peace out. V**

**Oh and I own nothing except the story idea and blah blah blah-**

Gray was going to do it.

He was going to go up to her and say it. However, the Ice Mage's feet stayed put as he watched the girl before him. She had just returned and was being bombarded by everyone in the guild who had been worried. He was honestly glad that everything had worked out because she looked much happier, and brighter.

Two days ago had been an eye opener for Gray. Never in all of his time of knowing the Water Mage had he thought that his actions would lead to what had happened. After the Master had talked with him and banned him from being allowed to tag along with the others, he got the guts to tell Juvia that he wanted to talk when she got back.

Now she was back. And he was still standing there, merely watching from the sidelines as she greeted her Nakama. It had only been two days, he told himself, but over those two measly days, Gray had thought long and hard about the Master's words.

Now he just had to tell her.

After a few more minutes of staring in her direction, ignoring the momentary thought that their roles had somehow switched before realizing that most of the guild members had subsided. This was his chance to talk to her. He gulped, tightening his fists in determination as he walked up to her from behind. "J-Juvia?" Smooth Gray, smooth.

She turned around and blinked. Gray was worried on how she would react at seeing him. He watched as she shared a glance with Gajeel. His worries seemed to be in vain though as she turned back to him with a smile. "Yes Gray-sama?"

He blinked. That wasn't the reaction he was expecting, but he was glad all the same. However, it did make his words falter. "I-I um, I wanted to tell you…" He trailed off, his mouth suddenly dry as he locked eyes with her. Were they always so blue and pretty..?

He blushed in embarrassment. That was such a Lyon line! What was wrong with him?! Juvia must have wondered the same thing as she gave a worried look. "Is Gray-sama alright?"

The Ice Mage shook his head. "Yes, I-I'm fine. I just.., I just wanted to tell you that I…" He sighed, running his hand through his hair. "Look, Juvia I-"

"Juvia knows."

He blinked as he looked up at her in surprise. It only grew as he found that she was looking down. What part of her face he could see looked very.., sad. "Y-You do..?"

She nodded before looking up at him, his eyes widening as he looked at her expression. It was so..,downcast. He had never seen her so sad before. The smile that was on her face and the look in her eyes told him that there was something wrong. Like she was broken, but her appearance also said that she had accepted it. Whatever it is, she was about to let him know.

"Yes, Juvia knows how Gray-sama feels..," He was about to say something, but she put her hand up, stopping him. "Let Juvia finish." There was a kind of pleading in her eyes that made him stop and nod. "Juvia knows and even if it will hurt Juvia," Her smile widened a bit, but it looked like she might cry. "Even so, I just want you to be happy, Gray."

He was shocked, not just because of Juvia's sudden change in speech, but also because he realized what she was really saying to him. What she really meant. She went to leave but he couldn't let her do that. He couldn't stand there and watch another woman in his life leave him behind.

She stopped as she felt him grab her arm. She didn't turn to look at him, only downward at their shadows on the floor, trying to keep herself from breaking completely. But she listened as he explained.

"Juvia please listen to me." His voice was quieter than she had ever heard it before. "I..,I was just afraid Juvia. There have been a lot of amazing women in my life and somehow, they all end up…" He swallowed and his grip tightened on Juvia's arm, giving her the time to turn and look up at him as he continued, showing him the unshed tears in her wide eyes.

"I was afraid that if I allowed you to be anymore in my life than you were, that you might end up the same way. If I.., lost you too, I knew that I wouldn't be able to forgive myself. So I-"

"So you pushed me away…" She finished for him in a shocked whispered. He nodded slowly, looking down. "I'm sorry, I didn't think it would hurt you so deeply or cause you and Gajeel to fight. But, you need to understand that I wasn't pushing you away because I wasn't interested, okay? I just wasn't ready…"

Ignoring the fact that his face was most likely the color of Erza's hair, he glanced up at her after she didn't respond, only to find that she was crying with big round eyes, which made him flinch in worry and shake his free hand. "P-Please don't cry! I, uh, I-"

He stopped his stuttering as she reached her free arm over to hug him around the neck. Sniffing, she smiled as she spoke. "Juvia understands. She does. And she is willing to wait until Gray-sama is ready."

Gray bit his lip before letting go of her arm and instead using it to give her a hug. "Thank you, Juvia." He felt her stiffen in his hold before relaxing. After hesitating, she hugged him back, trying to keep her breathing even so as not to pass out. The whole guild was watching after all. Her eyes snapped open.

The whole guild was watching.

She could feel the sweat coming on and sensing her sudden discomfort, Gray stepped back, still holding her in his arms, to look at her. He raised a brow at her stiff expression and deep blush. "Juvia?"

Stuttering something he didn't understand, she shut her eyes tightly before digging her face into his shirt, that had impressively stayed on through the whole conversation, making him blush now that he had inwardly accepted the Water Mage's affections. Causing him to become clumsy with his words. "J-J-Juvia!? W-What is..?" He stopped as he heard it.

Giggling.

As realization hit him, he also started to sweat and blush deeply. Juvia wasn't showing affection right now, she was hiding her embarrassment. Holy crap, Gray was so focused on Juvia that he hadn't realized where the two where to begin with...

They were in the middle of the guild hall.

Giving literally everyone in the room a great view of their whole conversation and actions. Does he dare to look up? He wasn't sure but he did it anyway. He could feel his face growing redder by the second as he looked around nervously to find that everyone in the guild, who apparently had nothing better to do, was eavesdropping on their conversation. Did they not respect their privacy?

Oh wait, this was Fairy Tail.

Gray was pretty sure that word wasn't in the guild's dictionary.

"He Liiiiikes her~"

Gray was going to kill that cat one of these days. After that thought passed, everyone that had been silent before that moment suddenly started to cheer the two on, causing them to flinch. Natsu came up grinning and held up his fist, which was as always, on fire. "Ha! And you called me dense Ice Cube!" Gray stared. "That's because you are Stupid."

Natsu growled. "You wanna piece of me-gah!" Lucy, still giggling, started to drag the Fire Dragon Slayer away by the scarf, ignoring Natsu's protests, and gave Gray a sly look, which he narrowed his eyes at.

More and more people started to surround them as the minutes seemed to turn into seconds, giving little room to even breathe and caused Gray to tighten his hold on Juvia as the crowd thickened. Mostly the women of the guild fangirling about the situation, he regretfully noted.

"Hey! Let me in!" Everyone stopped at the deep booming voice and the crowd started to separate. Gray felt Juvia move in his hold and looked down to see her looking in the direction of the voice as the people moved about in a hurry to get out of the way.

He looked back up to see the deep frown of Gajeel Redfox himself, arms crossed and sharp red eyes seeming to stare into his soul. Oh wait, that was Bickslow. Gray suddenly found his presence different than usual. Almost.., protective. Yeah, like a brother vibe.

His eyes widened as Gajeel's gaze looked straight at Juvia, who removed her arms and turned to stand next to Gray, suddenly fine with a smile on her face.

Gajeel leaned forward awkwardly, still keeping his focus on Juvia. "Are you...happy with this?" The tension in the room rose greatly as everyone stared at Juvia, awaiting an answer, including Gray, who was inwardly wondering the same thing.

Juvia's smile grew. "Yes, Juvia is." Gajeel seemed to smile in return, but it was quickly replaced with a thick frown as he stood up straight and turned to Gray, his sharp glare landing on him, making Gray's hair stand on end. "Fullbuster." Gray blinked, a bit nervous if he was being honest with himself. "Yeah..?"

Gajeel's gaze softened a bit then, asking for promise. "Keep her safe when I can't." Gray glanced at Juvia, now on the verge of tears again, and smiled to himself before turning back to the Iron Dragon Slayer with a serious expression. "I will."

Gajeel smirked. "Geehee. Good. Because if you didn't, I was gonna have ta kill ya." Gray reflected his smirk. "Yeah, I'd kill me too."

"Don't kill Gray-sama!" The two only laughed at Juvia's cries as everyone else joined in.

Later on that night another glorious party was thrown by Fairy Tail. One to congratulate the three who had reconciled and settled their complications. It was only two hours into the party and Gajeel was already exhausted. Okay, so he had been through a lot in the past few days, but still. He was Gajeel Redfox! Iron Dragon Slayer who could scare everyone in the room with just a glare.

However.., ever since they got back from their 'mission', everyone was suddenly very fond of him. Asking him questions and getting clingy.

No one was taking him seriously;

And it was driving him mad.

He grumbled his way to the bar, somehow getting everyone off his back and finally getting to be alone. He asked Mira for a drink, putting his head down on the counter with a groan.

"I never thought I would see you with so many fans, Gajeel."

Gajeel tilted his head to glare up at his cat before sitting up to turn around and cross his arms. "What're you talking about? I've got music fans!" Pantherlily only raised an amused brow and decided to change the subject, following Gajeel's gaze on the Water Mage across the room, chatting with her Fairy Tail friends.

"Even with all of the extra attention, it was worth it in the end, right?" Gajeel smirked as his gaze fell back on Juvia. "Yeah, I think it was."

Lily copied the action as Mira brought Gajeel his drink. The Dragon Slayer was taking a drink as his cat went on. "That's good, but don't think too hard about it Gajeel, or you'll find yourself crying tears of joy again."

And,,. he spit it right back out, his face red from embarrassment. "No I wouldn't! Why would I?!" Lily laughed. "Don't get so embarrassed! It's not like they're getting married. If they were, you _would_ cry."

Lily laughed even harder as Gajeel's face became redder. "I-I would not!"

His cat smirked up at him slyly. "Don't lie to me Gajeel. You would cry like a baby because you would be proud of her. Especially after you find out that she wants you to be the one to give her away."

The Iron Dragon Slayer opened his mouth to protest but stopped as the last part of that sentence clicked in his mind. "M-Me..? Why would she...Wait, how would you know?!"

Lily shrugged his small shoulders. "Because she told me." After the man stared at him with wide eyes for a minute, Lily sighed and decided to explain. "A few weeks ago she was telling me all about her dream wedding and how you would be one one to give her away. When I asked why she wanted you specifically, she told me that it was because you were the first one to see her as real family."

When Lily looked up to see Gajeel's reaction, he saw exactly what he was expecting.

Gajeel with wide tear-filled eyes as he stared at his cat in disbelief. Lily only nodded to his partner to silently tell him that he was indeed telling the truth. This made the Big Oaf breakdown and hug Lily again in overwhelming emotion.

Pantherlily sighed, not that fond of being randomly hugged, but then again, not really minding either.

You're just a Big Softy, Gajeel."

"I-I am not! I just get emotional! It has nothing to do with how soft I am, which I'm not!"

Lily rolled his eyes but smiled all the same.

Gajeel Redfox might be a Big Softy, but he was Fairy Tail's Big Softy.

He raised a brow. "...You do realize that they aren't getting married, right?"

Gajeel blinked, pulling back and holding his cat up to look at him. "Yeah, why?"

Lily raised a brow. "You got very emotional. That's all."

"Well yeah, I told you I was. Weren't you listenin'?"

"Well, yes, I just thought that you might have misheard me and thought it was really going to happen."

"Nah, if they were doin' that than I would have done somethin' stupid like hug her in public."

Lily raised an amused brow as Gajeel set him back down on the counter. "While crying, I presume."

"Most likely."

"That sounds amusing. I think I'll go and tell Juvia that."

"Lily, don't you even dare."

-FIN-

**A/N: Oh man guys that was so much fun to write. xD I just couldn't stop and it ended up longer than I was planning. Pffff**

**Not gonna lie, my favorite line was "**_**I just get emotional!**_**" **

**XD XD XD**

**Okay, so thank you everyone who followed and faved this story and I hope you enjoyed this not-as-little-as-it-should-have-been bonus! :'D**


End file.
